Bonn. Danced Beethoven – this was the theme of the final evening of this year’s Beethoven Campus Bonn with the title ‚Neue Wege’ (Neue Wege).Together with the youth dance company DanzaMaz, the young Austrian pianist Hanna Bachmann, who has become a welcomed guest of the network ‘Ludwig van B.’ got into the question whether Beethoven’s humanistic ideas can be found in the music too – and whether one can show them in a performance.
What does his music tell about Beethoven as a human (and maybe even the humanist)? As examples in music, the performers chose the so-called ‘Tempest’-sonata and the sonata Waldstein. The first part of the evening was slightly irritating at first – Bachmann played at the grand piano without its lid, the dancers were absent apart from a small gathering around the piano.
The young pianist managed the first movement sophisticatedly, the Adagio was of great depth (profoundity?) and the final movement sounded effortless and sparkling.
After a short intermission it then was the young dancers’ of Miguel angel Zermeno turn in the Waldstein sonata. The humanistic idea was expressed in moments of very small groups, in sequences of ‘being with and around each other’ and in holding one another.
A little homage referring to the already past World Climate Conference was an act with green feathers with which Hanna Bachmann tickled the dancers awake after the first movement.
Interestingly, Bachmann added the Andante Favori WoO57 as a second movement which was planned by Beethoven as such earlier, before he changed his mind. After the more and more turbulent final movement that also requested a faster pace of the dancer, great applause for all the performers followed.
The combination of parts of pure music and parts of music and dance was very unusual at first, but cleverly allowed Hanna Bachmann and her wonderful interpretations to be valued as well-earned.

For the November’s edition of the of the Austrian magazine ‘Zeitschrift für KULTUR und Gesellschaft’ Hanna was interviewed by Fritz Jurmann. The whole article can be read here.

On June 23rd Hanna Bachmann was presented in ‘Intrada’ by Eva Teimel. The written interview can be read here.